Into that Vast Expanse

Collateral Damage session 15

Orpheus sings his last song

Hero finally began his language training with Victrix, learning the secret hand-signals and tongue of House Draque. This opened his eyes to a new dimension of Burne & Goat’s antics.

At Scintilla, Herodion made arrangements for palatial lodgings in the cloud-spires of Hive Sibellius. Kavik and Lilyth attempted to contact the sector’s High Inquisitor to gain access to records on Lucius Rosen but were told she was unavailable; instead they made an appointment to speak with a lower-level Inquisitor. Triox attempted to go shopping for servitor animals but was interrupted by circumstances.

Lilyth tried to get in touch with Medoc regarding his investigation into Adelaide, but he did not return any calls. Medoc did also not report to Hero for his report on the anonymous mole aboard the ship.

These activities were all overshadowed by one much darker occurrence: Kavik’s growing suspicion with his Navigator, Orpheus. During the last several Warp journeys Kavik had noticed an unsettling tendency for the Navigator’s acolytes to hum in tune with Orpheus’ song, and on arrival at Scintilla he found one of them speaking in sync with the Navigator’s voice. Orpheus politely refused to allow Kavik access to his chambers to discuss the matter, which only increased his (and Lilyth’s) concern.

Kavik made an outreach to a representative of House Laelia on Hive Tarsus, intending to speak with them about Navigator heresy. Herodion did some reconnaissance and determined that it would be appropriate to bring a gift as a bribe to such an illustrious house. On his advice, Kavik brought one of the archeotech murder-servitors.

The Laelia scion was polite but made it clear that the Navigators would prefer to handle the matter internally rather than getting any Inquisition forces involved. This was too slow a process for Kavik, who wanted the matter resolved immediately. He took his crew directly from the meeting at Laelia headquarters back to the the ship.

On board, the crew made straight for the Navigator’s oculus and gave orders to Burne to sieze the rest of Orpheus’ acolytes. Orpheus admitted them into his chambers which were distressingly befouled. When he revealed that he intended to take control of the ship, Kavik attacked.

The battle was pitched, with Orpheus attempting to mind-control the crew. At his command, mutants sprung from the vents and passageways to overwhelm the crew. They were supported by two acolyte Navigators (one of them a Vesper Nemo clone) who turned their baleful gaze on the room.

Kavik hacked and slashed at the mutants until Triox lifted him into the air with his gravity manipulator, at which point he began shooting. Victrix proved deadly with bolter and blade, while Lilyth brought holy fire and devastation. Herodion was overcome with terror at the Navigator’s presence and temporarily fled the room.

Triox managed to cover Orpheus with a curtain to shield the room from his gaze, and commanded his archeotech servitor bodyguards to slice him up. The trauma to Orpheus’ mortal body unleashed the daemon that had taken residence inside him, but Lilyth dispatched it with the fury of her holy sword. It fell to the rest of the crew to mop up the acolytes and mutants as Hero returned to the scene.

With the unholy threat neutralized, Kavik and his crew were free to continue their business on Scintilla. But they would need to find a replacement Navigator…